Let The Games Begin
by irishluff
Summary: When Hazel Burnett is reaped in the 93rd Hunger Games, no one is happy. She's not the kind of girl that wins the Games. But it's amazing what you can accomplish with misplaced trust and a few berries... Rated T, because it's the Hunger Games. One shot.


Author's Notes: Hello. I feel like I should give a little backstory on this. Originally, this was written as part of the history of one of my role play characters. On this particular site, District Five specializes in inedible plants. Besides this, it's alternate universe. Katniss and Peeta weren't reaped, there wasn't a revolution. Hence, this is the story of the 93rd Games. Enjoy!

* * *

As I rise up into the arena, eyes shut, I immediately feel warm sun on my face. It's like a perfect summer's day. Maybe if I keep my eyes shut I can pretend that's all it is. No, that's stupid. Every other tribute is looking around, seeing what's going on, and I'm standing here like an idiot. I've already let them have an advantage over me. I open my eyes and blink. The sun is so bright, especially here. It's reflecting off the Cornucopia. It looks big on tv, but here, standing in front of it, it's even bigger. There's so many weapons... Arrows, spears, knives, and things I can't even begin to name. I'm not looking forward to being attacked with them. Behind me is a tunnel between two hedges. I want to just bolt into it, leaving the Conucopia far behind, but I can't I have plan, and I need to stick to it.

Finally, the gong rings. I take off, and pick up the first weapon I can get my hands on: a spear. What the hell am I supposed to do with a spear? Then I see her: a tall, tan, blonde girl. She's running at me, she looks ready to strangle me for this spear. I smile. "You can have the spear, but I want in." Her brow furrows. "To what?" I look over at the other careers, who are already surrounding the terrified-looking boy from Six, ready to lop off his head for the gallon of water he'd grabbed. She raised her eyebrows. "You want to be a career, Five? Your training score was lower than your district." I realize suddenly that there is a flaw in my plan: I'm be a crappy career. "Then I'll just be an extra person to guard your stuff." The girl pauses for a moment, considering it. Eventually, she speaks. "Fine. But don't think this means you're not gonna die." I toss her the spear. _That's what you think._

The careers don't seem to be happy about me joining their alliance, but the girl, whose name I now know is Ellory, insists. Besides, the girl from Two was killed in the Bloodbath. I suppose I'm her replacement. They won't use my name. They just call me Five. I don't care, they'll be dead soon. We're sitting by the Cornucopia right now, and they're planning an attack. They want to go on a hunt tomorrow. But thankfully, it's getting dark. Ellory volunteers to stand guard, and I curl up a few feet away from the other careers, pretending to sleep. Now it's just a matter of waiting.

It's hours of agonizing waiting, but finally I see everyone, even Ellory. She's leaning on the Cornucopia, snoring lightly. I cautiously stand. There's a small pile of weapons a few feet away from me, and I grab something small and practical. A knife. As I'm moving to cut the first throat, I notice that Ellory isn't asleep. She's wide awake, staring at me, a small smile on her face. I freeze. "I was hoping you'd pull something like this," she says. She grabs the spear off the ground. "Let's do this." I walk over to the boy from District Two and stare at his sleeping face. He looks almost peaceful. With a shaking hand, pull out my knife and sink it into his throat. His eyes briefly open just in time for me to see the light fade from them. I wince when his canon goes off: one of them might hear it and wake up. "Five, you alright?" asks Ellory. I shake my head. "Fine." I take a final look at the dead boy before moving on.

Almost everyone is dead. There's blood everywhere. There's only one career left, Ellory's district partner. She's about to sink a spear in his chest, but to our horror, he's woken up. "Five? Ellory?" he says, surprise in his voice. However, he gets over it quickly. He rolls over and grabs a sword from the weapons pile. "Prepare to die!" he roars. So cliche. However, I don't have time to worry about cliche. I'm being threatened with a sword. I take off into one of twenty-four pathways, one leading off each platform. Ellory follows me. So does the boy from Four, but he's much slower than us. When we finally stop running, I hear a frustrated scream. It sounds so close... He must be right across the hedge from me. "I'll kill you!" I hear him scream. I fall to my knees, shaking.

Ellory stares at the hedge where his voice comes from. "I hate that kid. Frigging psycho. I trained with him, he almost took my head off..." That doesn't help my nerves. One day in the arena and I've already made an enemy. "Don't worry Five. We can take him." I smile, then yawn. "Sleep?" I ask. "Sleep," she agrees. As we lie down, I hear her voice. "You're not gonna slit my throat the second I shut my eyes, are you?" I wonder if she's planning to do that to me. She was probably planning on it before I stepped up to do it first. "No," I answer truthfully. I close my eyes and drift in and out of a fitful sleep.

I wake up to Ellory screaming. I think that the boy from Four must have found us, and is killing her in some awful way, when I see the vines wrapped around her neck. It's then that I realize that I can't get up. The very same vines are wrapped around my arms. It looks like I've found my very first mutts. I notice that Ellory's arms are free while mine are entangled in these awful weeds, so I call to her, "My knife is by my leg, can you get it?" I see her search for the knife with her eyes, then stretch out her arm to grab it. She just barely grabs it. Without a second thought, she slices the weed that's wrapping itself around her neck cleanly in two. Her intake of breath is audible. After a moment, she hacks through a much thicker, tougher one around her leg. One she frees herself, she cuts me loose. "That was close," murmer's my ally as she rubs her throat.

She looks at me. "Well Five, you got a plan?" I don't mention that the fact she still calls me 'Five' bugs me. It's not important. "Well," I begin hesitantly. I do have a plan, but I'm not sure if I want to tell her. Finally, I decide I will. "Every time I watch the Games, I'm struck by how easily everyone trusts their fellow tributes. Alliances form quickly and no one expects their new ally to turn around and stick a knife in their back. And they're right, because backstabbing doesn't happen that often. I've always said to myself 'If I'm ever reaped, I'm going to be the girl you'd be stupid to trust.'" Ellory stares at me. "I grew up in a career district, and that's one of the most ruthless strategies I've ever heard." I simply shrug. "I don't want to die." There's a silence between us. Finally, she speaks. "Should I be worried?" This question surprises me a bit. I only told her this because I don't plan on killing her. However, this is the Hunger Games. Whether I'm the one to do the deed or not, there's only one winner and I don't plan on losing. I don't say this though. "Of me? No."

We walk all day before finding a stream. I drink immediately; I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until just now. We continue to walk along the river. Water is essential. We're reminded that food, too, is essential by our growling stomachs. Ellory sees a berry bush and grabs a handful of them. The second I realize what they are, I slap her hands and they spill out everywhere. "What was that for?" she demanded. "Eat those berries and you'll be dead before you know what hit you. People use them to commit suicide sometimes." She backs away from the bush as if it might launch its deadly fruit straight into her stomach. "Oh," she says simply. I keep walking. It's time to move on.

It's day three. I had the satisfaction of seeing the faces of all the careers in the sky the night before, sans District Four. I'm hoping someone will take him out before he finds me again. Every time I think about him the knot in my stomach tightens. Why did he have to wake up? I remember his words and a chill goes down my spine. _"I'll kill you!"_ Something about it... It was so crude, so to-the-point. But more than that, it wasn't a threat. It was a promise. We were going to meet again and one of wasn't going to come out of the encounter alive. I'm still thinking about this when we come to a clearing with a huge lake. We notice fish, and Ellory immediately wanders off, mumbling something about gathering supplies to fish. I decide to try to start a fire. I've never built one before, so starting early is definitely a good idea.

After a few hours of banging rocks together, Ellory returnes. She brings three small fish. She glances at my pathetic attempt at starting a fire and wordlessly pulls a matchbook out of her pocket. I gratefully take a match, and discover I still can't light anything. Ellory laughs. "Firestarting isn't your forte, huh Five?" "My name's Hazel..." Ellory looks surprised. She hadn't realized I disliked being called Five. "All right then, Hazel." I smile, satisfied, then look at the fish. They're finished. Ellory and I quickly eat them. When I finish, I look up to realize we're not alone. Instinctively, I grab my knife. When I see who it is, I calm a but, but don't put away the weapon. Peering out from behind a bush, I see my district partner. His name is Micah, a little wisp of a 13-year-old. No one was happy when he was reaped. Then again, no one was happy when I got reaped, but it was worse with him.

He sees that I've noticed him, and backs away, fear in his eyes. "It's ok, Micah," I call to him. "Come here." At first, he hesitates. _Smart boy,_ I note. But eventually, his fear and longing for a familiar face cause him to give in and run to me. All I can think of is how I have to kill him. When he gets closer, I see that not only has he been crying, but he has a bad cut on his arm. "Who gave this to you," I ask, genuinely concerned. The description he gives matches the psycho from Four toe to tip. He hugs me, taking my by surprise. I return the hug, not dropping the knife in my hand. I intend to sink it into his back, but at the last minuet, I drop it. I can't end the life of this innocent little boy that came to me for help and safety. I just can't. Not yet, at least.

When nightfall comes, I lie awake, telling myself to just get up and stab Micah already. Good god, where is the cold-blooded killer that slit all those careers' throats? She needs to come back. Ugh, I'm going to be relieved when I finally just do it. It'll be a huge weight off my back. Right now what I know I have to do looms over me, like a boulder that could fall on my head and smash me like a bug at any moment. Somehow though, I eventually fall asleep. When I wake up in the morning, Ellory's already awake. Or maybe she never got to sleep. Her eyes have dark circles under them and... shit, is that blood on her spear? I don't ask where that came from. Micah's still snoring, so she takes this opportunity to talk to me. "You gonna do it?" she asks. From her hand gesture (finger across the throat), I know exactly what she's talking about. "I will. Eventually." She glances at him, snoring lightly. "Want me to?" I shake my head. This has to be me.

We're walking through the maze, and I keep reminding myself that I really need to stop putting off sticking a knife into one of Micah's vital organs. I have to do it, and I have to do it fast. But I keep thinking about his face when he first saw me, so trusting and naive. This is going to be hard. We pass a bush. From the color of the berries- bright pink- they could be candy. Being from District Five, I know they most certainly aren't. Micah's stomach growls, and I have a plan. I stop and start picking berries. "Micah, have some of these, they'll fill you up until we can find something better," I say, holding out a handful. He looks at them, a bit suspicious. "Those look a lot like those berries everyone tells us to stay away from..." I fein confusion. "Nah. I ate them all day yesterday. They're fine." I can see an internal battle being waged. They don't look safe, but he's _so_ hungry, and surely I'd never try to hurt him.

He take the whole mouthful and swallows.

The berries take effect immediately, I see his eyes glaze over. Ellory looks at me, then to him. She knows something's up, but it takes her a moment to realize exactly what. It doesn't take Micah much longer. His eyes well up with tears. "Hazel... I thought you were my friend," he says, despair in his voice. Somehow, I know I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. He starts to breathe heavily, but it's not the poison. It's just his own fear. He begins to run from me, but the run is all wrong. He's running like he's drunk. At any other time, this would've struck me as funny. Before he gets too far, he trips. I rush over to him. Stupidly, I want to make sure he's alright. Of course he's not, I just poisoned him. I roll him over so he's not facedown, and I see his eyes darting around. "Can't... think straight..." For just a split second, he focuses on me and opens his mouth to speak. But before he can, he vomits. I breathe an internal sigh of relief. That's one of the last symptoms of the poison. It'll be over soon. I want to say something to him, but anything I say would just make me seem like more of a bitch than I already do. His eyes burn with hurt and anger. I stand up and walk to Ellory, and we keep walking until we hear his cannon.

Ellory hugs me. "You're one step closer to home," she reminds me. The words give me comfort. We continue to walk, and eventually meet up with the girl from Three. I go through the same motions I did with Micah. If I'm going to get through these Games without going insane from the guilt, I have to completely shut myself off from my emotions. This time Ellory helps endorse the berries with me. I only look at her face when it's completely necessary. If I see it, I'll replace her with Micah. Why did I have to meet him of all people? We leave the girl to die the second the berries pass her lips and I see the glazed look in her eyes.

After the anthem ends that night, Ellory and I do some math and realize that there's only eight tributes left. We're in final eight. Who ever thought I might come so far? Ellory looks at me. "Remember how you said that you always thought most tributes' biggest mistake in the arena was being to trusting?" I nod, unsure of where she's going with this. "Well, I've always thought it was not knowing when to end an alliance." At first, I'm confused. Then, suddenly, I understand. It's time to go our separate ways.. "It just feels so... sudden," I say. She smirks. "We killed an assload of people these past few days. If we keep going like this, we're gonna be the final two. That's not something I want. It's gonna suck if I have to drive my spear through your stomach." A small smile plays across my lips. Ellory is, by far, the most cocky person I've ever met. "Goodbye?" I ask. She waves, then stands up. "Goodbye. Oh, and I have this theory that if you sleep in a tree, the vines can't get to you. You deserve a death way more dramatic than being taken out by a bunch of plants, as ironic as it would be." And then she's gone. I go off in the opposite direction, looking for a tree.

She's right. The vines couldn't get me up here. However, sponsor gifts obviously can, as I wake up with a silver parachute resting on my stomach. I open the box. Inside is a large vial full of green liquid and a hypodermic needle. I swallow and jump down from the tree. Apparently, the Capitol finds my method of dispatching people to be entertaining. I begin wandering the arena, looking for my next victim ally. It's about noon when I run into the pair from Eleven. The girl and I hit it off. The boy obviously distrusts me, but pretends not to. I offer him berries all day, he refuses. He's a clever one. I need to watch out for him. They don't have enough water, so I try to find the way back to the lake. It's difficult. I guess a maze is supposed to be difficult, though. The Gamemakers did their jobs well. Eventually, we find it. The boy goes off on his own, and I strike up a conversation with the girl. She certainly likes to talk, and easily holds up most of the conversation. I'm grateful for this; I don't really want to talk. As we converse, I lead our random wanderings into the maze, where the boy won't be able to see me do away with his district partner.

When we're a little ways into the maze, I spot my berry bush. The bright pink is practically a beacon. "Ooh," I say, interrupting her, "can we stop for some of these?" I look at the berries. "They're great." She looks at them and smiles. "Awesome! We haven't been able to start a fire, so all we've really had is raw meat." I smile. I feel a bit less guilty when my victim is hungry. I'm not persuading them to eat it, I'm just helpfully suggesting. She looks at me. "Aren't you gonna have any?" I nod my head. "I will in a minuet. You're the one that's been living off raw meat, you get first pick." She accepts this and eats a few. After a moment, she blinks, confused. "Are you sure these berries are ok to eat?" I fake concern. "Of course, why would I hurt you?" She's about to answer, but instead of words coming out of her open mouth, she throws up. Before I take off running, I grab a handful of berries off the bush and shove them in my pocket.

I desperately hope I can remember the way back to the lake. I can't face her. She must know I tricked her by now. More importantly, the boy will be wondering where we are. Thankfully, we didn't make many turns, and I quickly find my way back. When I do, he's waiting for me. When he sees I'm alone, his eyes narrow. "Where is she?" he asks icily. "She's right behind me," I answer, deadpan. "Then let's go find her." Walking in silence, we both go back into the maze. I pull out a berry and pretend to eat it. "Want some berries?" I offer. He stops walking. "That's the fourth time you've offered me those berries. I don't care how nice you are, _no one_ is that generous." I give him a funny look. "Are you sure?" He stares at me. "If those berries are so delicious, why haven't I seen you eat a single one?" He's definitely a smart one. Suddenly, I realize something. I haven't heard the girl's cannon yet, and we're headed straight at her. I can only hope we're far enough away that we can walk down a different trail and away from her.

The boy notices my obvious discomfort and realizes something's up. He rejects my attempt to steer left, and it's not long before we come to the girl. She's lying in a pool of vomit-which I notice has blood in it-, covered in sweat, and shaking violently. I realize I've never seen someone die from these berries, and it's awful. The boy is frozen in horror. I know I only have a few more moments before he recovers, so I take advantage of them. I pull out my knife and shove him into the hedge. _One more person, one step closer to home,_ I think. "Eat the berries, Eleven," I say, still deadpan. He frantically looks from the berries to my knife to me. I'm careful not to let my face convey any emotion.

It seems I've failed to note any weapons this boy might be carrying. He takes me by surprise, pulling out a knife that's a twin of mine, and stabbing me in the shoulder. I cry out in surprise and pain, stumbling back. He takes advantage of this and bolts. I run after him, but he's faster than I am. I have to catch him. He can't get away. Then, I get lucky. He trips over a vine that's worked its way out of the hedge and into his path. I can't help but wonder if this was purposefully done by the Gamemakers. Before he can get up, I catch up to him and pin him down. We're so close, I feel him breathing on me. I could kiss him if I were inclined to. I don't for obvious reasons. We stare daggers at each other. After a few more moments of this, I start shifting myself so my arms are free, but he's still pinned. He makes this considerably harder by thrashing wildly, but eventually I have it so I'm kneeling on him. I wonder how I should do the deed. The berries are out of the question. The only way to get him to eat them would be forcibly shoving them down his throat, a task I'm not sure I can do without getting my hand bitten off.

Then, I remember my sponsor gift. I pull the vial and the needle out of my pocket, and his eyes immediately go wide with horror. "Help me! Somebody please help me!" he shrieks. It's pointless, though. No one will help him. I fill the needle with the bright green poison and he begins screaming obscenities at me, saying I'm a pathetic waste of a human being, a completely monster. He's probably right, but in this moment, I can't be bothered to care. All I can think about it home. I plunge the needle into his arm. Instantly, his swears and angry yells become screams of pain. Whatever this poison does, I'm glad it wasn't used on me. This has probably been designed by the Capitol to be as entertaining and dramatic as possible. Once again, I run from my suffering victim and don't stop until I find a tree to retire in.

Today, day five, is uneventful. I spend it wandering the arena alone, looking for food and hoping beyond hope I can find some kind of herb that will relieve the pain in my shoulder where the boy from Eleven stabbed it. It's swollen and I worry that if I can't find something for it- or the Games aren't over soon- it will become infected. All the more reason to get out of the arena quickly. I find myself once again by the lake. I climb a tree and watch the stars, waiting for the day to be over.

I wake up to find that I'm not alone in the tree. Sitting in the next branch over, to my absolute shock, is Ellory. She has her trademarked smirk on her face. "Hey Hazel," she says. I just blink. "We're the final three." Without meaning to, I notice the spear in her hands. It's covered in blood. It seems while I was wandering aimlessly through the arena yesterday, Ellory had been busy. "Does that mean you're gonna kill me now?" I ask dumbly. I should be running as fast as I can, not pleasantly chatting with her. She shakes her head. "Hell no. Wanna go psycho hunting with me?" My brain, cloudy with sleep, takes a minuet to figure out exactly what she's saying. When it does, my face falls. "He's still here?" She nods. "Unfortunately." I yawn, stretch, and wince when pain stabs down my arm. The wound in my shoulder has gotten nothing if not worse. She looks at it, concerned. I shake my head. "Don't worry. Something tells me none of us are going to be in this arena much longer." She smiles. "Preach."

We don't have to look for him long. We only walk through the mazes maybe ten minuets before an arrow whizzes by my head, just barely missing. We both whip around and see him in a tree with a bow. He has quite the collection of weapons. There's a bow, a sword, and more knives than I'd like to count. I'm fucked. He jumps down, a crazy look in his eyes. "Hey girls," he says, grabbing the sword and jumping down from the tree, "Ready to die?" Something about the cool, calm way he says it sends shivers down my spine. It's exactly like that first night, when he promised to kill me. The fear must show on my face, because his smile just widens. Ellory sees this too, and try to comfort me. "He's just a bully, Hazel. We can take him." The rage this comment brings is clear from the look on his face. "Just a bully?" he roars, and swings the sword. It hits my in the ribs and I inhale sharply, biting my lip. It's all I can to to keep from falling over and screaming.

Before he can do more damage to me, Ellory smacks him in the head with the blunt end of her spear. He stumbles backward, then runs forward and lunges at her with the sword. She blocks it with her spear, then whips it around and plunges it deep into his arm. He howls in pain and anger, switching the sword to his left hand. I can tell he's not as comfortable with this and smile a bit. Good, more power to us. I pull out my knife and run at him, doing my best to ignore the awful pain in my ribs. I try to sink the knife into his back, but get stopped by his shoulder blade. He swings around and punches me square in the face, and blood starts pouring out of my nose. It's throbbing, and I wonder if he's broken it. It wouldn't surprise me. This, however, makes me even angrier at him. Adrenaline pumping, I take the knife and stab at him again, but he blocks me. However, this distracts him and he fails to notice Ellory sneaking up behind him with her spear, She throws it at him, and it hits him squarely in the lower back, knocking him over. He pulls it out and throws it aside, struggling to stand. When he does, he throws a punch at Ellory. She returns the attack. "Hazel, run," she calls to me. For the first time, I hear something other than absolute certainty in her voice.

I can't run though. I climb up the boy's tree and grab the bow, attempting to figure out how to aim it. Eventually, I do. I send the arrow flying it... oh my god. It hits Ellory straight in the shoulder. "I'm so sorry," I scream, but it doesn't matter. The boy has ripped the arrow out of her shoulder, pulling out a chunk. I see an evil look in his eyes as he stabs the arrow into her neck. She lets out a cry, but it's choked off by her own blood. Oh my god. Oh my god oh my god oh my god. I killed Ellory. She doubles over, and I hear a cannon. The boy, the last person standing in my way of victory, smiles. "I guess it's just you and me now, Five." I look at him. "I guess it is. I was really hoping someone else would finish you off." His expression is smug. "Wouldn't you like that?" _Damn,_ I think, _the Capitol is probably loving this._ "Let's just get to it," I say. He smiles, then lunges at me. I just barely dodge it, then move for my own attack. I don't manage to get it, and he grabs me, shoving me against the tree. We're so close to each other. It's just like with the boy from Eleven, only this time the roles are reversed, and it's terrifying,

He's squeezing my wrists so tightly. I wonder if he's cutting of circulation. Oh hod it hurts. I wish he would loosen his grasp just a little bit. I wouldn't be surprised if her breaks them like he probably broke my nose. This is what I'm thinking about when he pulls me away from the tree, then slams me back into it. My skull collides with the trunk and I see stars. My eyes water. Then he flings me to the ground like a rag doll. I feel so pitiful. This is just highlighting the fact that I really have no offensive skills other than deceit and trickery. However, flinging me was a mistake. I get up and come at him, wielding my knife. But he's running at me too, and he's got the sword. He's got it raised over me head, I swear he's going to decapitate me. But I'm not going to let that happen. I didn't come all this way to have my head lopped off by some psychopath! I swing my arm up, knife in hand, and sink it into his forearm.

He drops the sword. It lands on my shoulder before falling to the ground. I pick it up and, screaming some kind of battle cry, sink it into his stomach. He doubles over and falls to the ground. I sink to me knees, believing it to be over. Unfortunately, I'm wrong. As I sit, not paying attention, he sneaks up behind me and plunges a knife into my torso, just under my collarbone. This seems to be the last bit of strength he has, because he collapses a moment after doing this. My hand flies to the injury. It's way too close to my heart for comfort. But I'm safe now. He's not in any kind of fighting state. With the danger gone, my mind slows down and the full weight of all my injuries crash down on me, My body is on fire. My shoulder hurts, my ribs hurt, my chest hurts, and oh my god my nose hurts. I'll be very surprised if it isn't broken.

Like the boy from Four, I have no fight left in me. We both lie in the grass, breath shallow, willing the other to succumb to their injuries so we can just win already. Because that's all it is now. A battle to see who can outlast the other. What seems like hours pass, though it was probably less time than that, but I finally hear a cannon fire. I almost smile. It's all over. The Games are over. Twenty-three other tributes died in this arena, but not me. I, Hazel Burnett, am the victor of the 93rd annual Hunger Games. A hovercraft comes to collect me and I close my eyes, glad just to be alive. The worst six days of my life are over. I'm going home. Home.. Now I can go home.


End file.
